ISPS Data Archive: About

ISPS Data Archive: Terms of Use

By using, contributing, and/or downloading files associated with scholarly studies available on the ISPS Data Archive, you agree to these terms and conditions. Please read the ISPS Data Archive Terms of Use.

Mission

ISPS provides members of the scholarly community with access to files associated with scholarly studies for the purpose of replication (hereafter, Replication Files), for all studies conducted by ISPS-affiliated researchers.

Research transparency and access to these materials allow members of the scholarly community to validate the existence of a specific set of data, to gain access to a specific set of data (when permitted), to replicate analyses, to view additional materials associated with a given study, including high quality metadata, and to extend scholarship.

Overview

The ISPS Data Archive is a digital collection of data, metadata, code, and associated files that comprise the evidence base of social science claims. The Archive offers curation, storage, preservation, and publication in accordance with its mission to facilitate future understanding, evaluation, and reproducibility of scientific claims.

The ISPS Data Archive uses YARD, the Yale Application for Research Data, as a tool for deposit, review, and publication of research outputs.

YARD connects researchers, curators, and publishers through a single pipeline for the purpose of improving research transparency, reproducibility, and long-term use.

The Archive enables open access to research materials that have been fully reviewed and enhanced for long term usability and analysis, in line with FAIR Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Access to the ISPS Data Archive is provided at no cost and is granted for scholarship and research purposes only.

The ISPS Data Archive works alongside researchers by assisting with and advocating for practices that aim to increase research transparency. The ISPS Data Archive supports the sharing of quality data by ensuring that deposits meet certain accessibility and usability standards. Meeting these standards ultimately contributes to more reproducible science.

The majority of digital content in the ISPS Data Archive currently consists of social science research data from experiments, program files with the code for analyzing these data, requisite documentation to use and understand the data, and associated files. For ease of use, files in the ISPS Data Archive are organized by study. For example, all the relevant files for Gerber, Green, and Larimer’s (2008) APSR article, “Social Pressure and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Large Scale Field Experiment” are grouped together and include datasets (Stata and Excel CSV), program files (Stata and R), output files (Stata and R), treatment materials (PDF), codebook files (XML), and metadata record (PDF). When possible, Data is linked to Projects and Publications, via the ISPS KnowledgeBase.

The ISPS Data Archive operates in accordance with the prevailing standards and practices of the digital preservation community including the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model (ISO 14721:2003) and the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) standard. Accordingly, ISPS supports digital life-cycle management, interoperability, and preferred methods of preservation. Within ISPS, the Director, the Associate Director for Research, and the Data Archive staff contribute to the management of digital content at ISPS.

ISPS is committed to preserving your privacy when you use this website, whether you are a depositor or an end-user. Any information we collect in the course of your use of the ISPS website is used solely for purposes of the functioning of the ISPS Data Archive.

For inquiries about the ISPS Data Archive, please contact us via email.

Why Archive?

Open access to data has recently been on the agenda in the scientific and research community. For example, Science Commons, the Berlin Declaration, the A2K movement, and the OECD Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data From Public Funding all indicate that data should be shared as openly as possible.

General benefits of archiving and disseminating data:

  • Enable new discoveries and encourage open scientific inquiry by making data available for use by others.
  • Promotes new research and allows for the testing of new or alternative methods.
  • Preserve valuable data for the long term.
  • Satisfy funder or institutional requirements for data sharing and retention.
  • Enhance the competitiveness of grant proposals and impact of research by sharing data.
  • Enables researchers to demonstrate continued use of the data after the original research is completed, which can influence funding agencies to provide further research money.
  • Reduces costs by avoiding duplicate data collection efforts.
  • Provides an important resource for training in research and teaching.
  • Allows investigators and data owners to avoid the administrative tasks associated with external users and their queries.

ISPS-Specific Benefits:

  • Replication Files are linked to a detailed description of the author’s study on the ISPS website.
  • ISPS Data Archive staff prepares data and documentation files for dissemination in user-friendly formats and updates these formats as appropriate.
  • ISPS Data Archive staff maintains permanent backups of the digital content of the Replication Files.
  • ISPS Data Archive staff reviews data files to determine whether any issues of confidentiality exist.
  • ISPS Data Archive staff reviews program files to ensure the reported results of your research computationally reproduce, and when possible creates identical files in R.
  • ISPS Data Archive staff prepares metadata records, including searchable fields, to assist in locating Replication Files within the ISPS Data Archive.
  • ISPS publicly announces the availability of data on the ISPS website and elsewhere.

FAQs

Q: Are there any restrictions in using the ISPS Data Archive? A: Please see the ISPS Data Arcive Terms of Use Agreement. You’ll need to read it carefully and agree to the terms in the Agreement before you can access any data.

Q: Why are some files inaccessible? A: Most files in the ISPS Data Archive are public-use files with no restrictions on their access. Replication Files are made available when, (1) the authors have allowed publication, (2) the files contain no confidential or identifying information, and (3) there are no additional restrictions by funders or other entities. Researchers may request access to restricted files by contacting ISPS .

Q: What software do I need to view data and replicate analyses? A: Datasets are available in ASCII format and program files are available in R for universal, non-proprietary access, when possible. We also identify software and version for each file, including: Stata, Adobe Acrobat, XML .

Q: Are all browsers equally suited to view data files? A: Generally, yes; but note that Internet Explorer is proven to be best suited for opening .csv files in the correct format.

Q: Why can’t I see the title of some publication or data records? A: In Internet Explorer, you may need to clear your cache in order for records to display properly.

Q: Does the ISPS Data Archive keep the original version of the files that I submit for archiving? A: Yes. The Archive keeps all original files as submitted by the data contributor offsite.

Q: I understand that in the process of preparing files for distribution on the ISPS website, some changes may be made to the Replication Files. Will I be notified about these changes? A: Yes. In most cases, the distributed Replication Files are essentially identical to the original files deposited. When appropriate, ISPS Data Archive team converts files to other formats such as ASCII, R, and Portable Document Format (PDF), completes variable and label information, and recodes variables to ensure respondents’ anonymity. Our staff will generally contact you regarding any suggested changes after an initial assessment of your data collection. Regardless of changes made, the archive also keeps copies of all files in the form in which they were submitted.

Alumni Curators

P Aronow
Stuart Craig
Simona De Paolis
Valerie Frey
Jennifer Jones
Changwook Ju
Grant Kopplin
Mary McGrath
Lilla Orr
Jackson Richmond
Supriyo Roy
Jerome Schafer
Brian Shih
Michael Weaver
John Williams
Jennifer Wu
Yuntian (Alicia) Xia
Hongda Xiao